Robert lundell



(No Model.)

R. LUNDELL. ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

N E E: Q ssssisam Patented Rec. 10, 1895 k i Q 'NvENToR BYv @km ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT LUNDELL, OF BROOKLYN, ASSIGNOR TO THE JOllSO),vv SUBTROL- LEY COMPANY, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551,334, -dated December 10, 1895.

Application tiled June 9, 1894. Serial No. 514,069. (No model.) Patented in England July 17, 1894, No. 13,765; in France July 17, 1894,11'0. 240,115; in Italy August 20,1894,No. 271,' in Spain August 28, 1894, Not 16,075; in Austria Pebrnary 15, 1895, No. 525, and in Germany July 26,1895,N0 84,206.

To all whom t petty concern.- vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2, 5o

Be it known that I, ROBERT LUNDELL, a Fig. 3, which in turn is a transverse sectional citizen ofthe United States, residing at Brookview taken through Fig'. 2, both of said views lyn, in the county of Kings and State of New illustrating the manner of liking the sectional 5 York, have made a new and useful lmprovetrolley conductors in the center of the roadinent in Electrical Railways, of which the folbed and also the manner of support-ing the lowinsbr, is a specification. contact-brushes or trolleys beneath the car My invention is directed particularly to iinand from the axles thereof in accordance with proveinents upon apparatus disclosed in my improvement, l

Io prior United States patents granted to Ed- R and R' represent trani-rails of usual patward H. Johnson, of New York, N. Y., and tern and F an insulated current-feeder or 6o myself, jointly, on the 17th day of July, 1801, main preferably buried beneath the road-bed, and numbered respectively 523,164, 523,165, F', F2, F3 and 1* being, insulated branch and 523,166, the subject-matter of said patfeeders or mains connected thereto and run- 15 ents and of the present application being also ning to normally-open switching-contacts fc",

patented in the following foreign countries, .902, aus and at* and switch-operating electro- 65 to wit: lreat Britain, No. 13,765, dated July magnets M', M2, M3 and M* provided with 17, 1891; Italy, No. 271, dated August 20, 1891; switch-actuating,` armature-levers L', 1.2, L3 Spain, No. 16,075, dated August 28, 189i; and LAll carrying each two sets of conducting,`

2o France, No. 210,115, dated July 17, 1891; contact-springs ef, z2, es, and s4 adapted to Austria, No. 525, dated Februaryl, 1895, and make front contact with fixed contacts fr', .m2, 7o Germany, No. 81,206, dated July 2G, 1895. ,r3 and r4 and rear contact with similar fixed The objects of the present invention are, contacts p', p2, p3 and p4, each having,` circuit first, to simplify and cheapenthe cost of the connections with a conductor lw3 through a 25 entire structure or apparatus; second., to furrheostat R to the rail R' and earth, all ot said ther decrease the liability of leaving` any secmagnets, arinature-levers, contacts and the tional trolley conductor connected to the currheostat Rh being located in a water-tight rent-feeder or main after a car has passed switch-box in the saine manner as disclosed over it g third, to minimize the actual wear in the prior patents above referred to. In

3o and tear upon the conducting-trolley or conthe present invention, however, l locate four tact-brushes which collect the current from switch-magnets and circuit connections in 8o the sectional trolley conductors; fourth, to eachswitch-box instead of three and l do away avoid the use of sliding,` crossings for the trolwith the high-resistance shunt-electromagley or contact-brushes at the juncture of the nets described and claimed in prior patents f 5 tram-rails with other like lines of train-rails; above referred to, the electromagnets M', M2,

fifth, to render the operation of the switching M3, and il"l having energizing-coils of few con- 8 5 devices certain and to avoid the fusing of the volutions and large current-carrying capacity working contacts thereof; sixth, to accoinandadapted to actonlyfor currents approachplish any and all of the functions or results ing` the quantity of current required to oper- 4o naturally'attributable tothe entire apparatus ate t-he propelling-motor, thereby avoiding hereinafter described, the essentially-novel the probability of operation 'from leakage, as 9o features of which are particularly pointed out was possible with the shunt-magnets referred in the claims at the end of the1.ollo\\'i1ig,` specito, which might act for a current-leakage of fication. sniall quantity. The coils of these electro- Referring now to the drawings, in which magnets are connected directly to pairs of like letters of reference represent like parts iron sectional trolley conductors SC SC' of T- 95 wherever used, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic rail type secured in the center of the roadview illustrating an electric-railway system bed upon a longitudinal stringer O of creoembodyiug' my improvements, and Fig. 2 is a soted wood carried by the ties 'll T. These trolley conductors are separated from each other a sufficient distance to offer the necessary current-resistance when flooded with water. rlhey are preferably grooved and a good conductor of copperfixed in cach groove, the en ds being separated from adjacent pairs of like conductors by spaces of about four feet each. The intervening spaces are preferably asphalt, as is the entire road-bed, and they are of lower level than the sectional conductors SC SC', so as to avoid contact with the contact-brushes or trolleys B', B2, B3 and i* as they pass off said conductors.

lll represents the arn'iature and FM the fieldmagnets of the propelling electric motor, IV lV the wheels, and B a portable source ot electrical energy, as a storage-battery, said motor and battery being shown connected in multiple by a conductor w and switches S S to the wheel NV and contacting brushes or trolleys B', B2, B3 and B, four in number, carried by rigid arms E E E E journaled directly upon the axles A A of the car and connected by one 0r more rigid rods D, the arrangement bcing such that the brush-supporting arms partake only of the vertical movement of the car-axles.

The contacting brushes or trolleys B', B2, Bi and BLl are made of metallic strips secured to metallicbrush-heads which in turn are carried by links or arms pivoted to supports secured through wooden blocks by bolts and oblong bolt-holes to the arms E E, said arms having at their lower ends cach a rest or support as clearly shown which limits the downward movement of the brush-sustainin g links. It is the function of these rests or supports to carry the brushes bodily above and out of contact with the asphalt when they leave t-he ends of the sectional trolley conductors or when riding over the rails ot' crossing tramways, which it will be noted will occur as the upper surfaces of the conductors SC and SC' are noticeably higher than the level of the rails. lVith such an arrangement, therefore, I avoid the construction of especial crossing apparatus and effect a material cheapening in the cost of the apparatus as well as a saving in the wear of the brushes.

Referring again to Fig. l and to the circuits and winding ot the switching-electromagnets, it will be seen thatcach sectional trolley-conductor SG is connected directly to the coils of two adjacent electromagnets in series relation and that the first and. last magnet in cach group are connected similarly and also that each sectional trolley conductor SG' is connected directly to on e coil of the magnet which controls the circuits for that particular sectional conductor, the arrangement being such that as the brushes B' B2 and B3 B bridge the spaces between the succeeding pairs of conductors the switches will be actuated in succession and little or no arcing occur at the switching-contacts 51:', rc2, ac3, of* and p', p2, p3, and p4, which contacts are all preferably of carbon or equivalent non-fusible material. I iind that carbon or non-fusible contacts possess great merit in these positions in that they avoid any possibility of sticking or fusing together of the switch-contacts.

The operation will be fully understood. on inspection of Fig. l, in which a car is supposed to be passing from left to right, the propellingcurrent passing from feeder F by sub-feeder F', fixed carbon contacts movable contactsprings z' carried by armature-lever L', lower coil of electromagnet ill', upper coil of electromagnet M2, (energizing both of said magnets and maintaining their armatures in their upper or active positions as shown) conductor QU' to sectional trolley conductor SG, contacting brush or trolley B', conductor w, rear switch S, motor M, FM, wheel lV through rail R to earth and to the other pole of the power house generator. (Not shown.) .l multiple or branch circuit is simultaneously closed as follows: From the central coil of magnet M' by conductor 102, sectional trolleyconductor SO', contact-brush or trolley B2, conductor w to front switch. S through the storage-battery B to wheel lV and to earthas before, thereby supplying said battery with a charging-current. As the armature-levers L and L2 are drawn forward the normallyclosed high-resistance earth or safety circuits are broken and as the car passes on they are successively closed. At the same time the movable contact-springs .z2 carried by armature-lever L2 were put int-o contact with the fixed carbon contacts x2 and the next pair or' sectional trolley conductors SG and SC' in advance connected in circuit and adapted to convey current as soon as the brushes and Bt shall pass upon them. Should the circuit be actually ruptured at any time by opening the rear operating-switch S, or as would bc the case at a crossing or at some point where the sectional conductors were discontinued. then the car could of course be propelled directly by the storage-battery B or equivalent portable source of current supply carried thereon by simply changing the front switch to its rear position so that the battery-current will all flow directly through the motor. On arriving at a section of the roadway provided with sectional conductors SO SG' the switches S and S would be again placed as shown, and the battery-current would actuate the first switch-magnet putin circuit and the car proceed as before under control of the powerhouse-generator current.

I have shown simple switches S S for controlling the circuits to the battery motor and generator, but of course any preferred form of switch might be used. ln fact I should prefer to use my improved circuit-controller disclosed in connection with the systems covered by our prior patents above referred to.

It will be understood also that the usual fuse-plugs would be provided for the various circuits running to the electromagncts in the IOO IIO

switch-boxes (not shown) and that they would be so arranged that should an abnormal current leakage occur they would be blown.

IIa-ving thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-n l. In an electric railway a current feeder or main, two sets of sectional trolley conductors arranged in pairs, normally open branch feeders running from the current feeder or main to switches controlled by electro-magnets, circuit connections from one of each pair of sectional trolley conductors through two of the switch operating electro-magnets in series and from the other ,trolley conductor of each pair to one of said magnets, substantially as described.

2. An electric railway provided with a cur rent feeder or main, branch feeders running therefrom to switches controlled by electromagnets, sectional trolley conductors arranged in pairs and connected one of each pair to its own switch operating magnet and the other to the same magnet and to the next adjacent magnet, substantially as described.

An electric railway provided with a current main and branch feeders running therefrom to switches controlled by electro-magnets, the coils of adjacent magnets being connected together, in combination with two rows of sectional trolley or service conductors permanently connected to the coils of the electro-magnets and by means of trolley or contact brushes having connection with the propelling motor and a battery on the car.

4. In an electric railway of the described class the combination of sectional service conductors and electro-magnetic switching devices so connected and arranged that the service conductor next in advance to the one which supplies the current -is made alive and ready for service before it has been reached by the traveling; contact brush or trolley.

5. In an electric railway of the described class the combination of two rows of sectional service conductors and electro magnetic switching devices so connected and arranged that the service conductor next in advance to the one which supplies the current is made alive and ready for service before it has been reached by the traveling contact brush or trolley.

6. In an electric railway the combination of one or more motors and a battery on the car, contact brushes and sectional service conductors adapted to be connected to a supply conductor by means of electrodnagnetic switches the coils of which at the starting moment are connected in series with the battery and the motor and at the next moment carry the current from the supply conductor to the motor and to the battery, substantially as shown.

7. In an electric railway a current feeder or main, sectional trolley conductors and switching devices for connecting them to the feeder or main in sequence; said switching devices having their controlling electro-magnets connected together; an earth circuit connection for each sectional trolley conductor and additional switching devices for rupturing said earth circuits, all of the switching devices being provided with non-fusible contacts whereby fusion or sticking of the parts is avoided.

8. Two or more Contact brushes or trolleys carried each by a depending arm journaled on independent axles of a car and connected together by a rigid rod, each of said arms being provided with a rest or support for limite ing the downward movement of the brush or trolley carried thereby.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto'subscribed my name this 8th day of June, 189i.

ROBERT LUNDELL. lVitnesses CHARLES J. KINTNER, M. M. ROBINSON. 

